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Video ProcAmp
The Video ProcAmp (an acronym for
"Processing Amplifier") page will allow you
to customize the look of each channel.
The adjustable settings here will not change
the recording quality or frame rate of the
video files.
You can use the Video Adjustments to fine
tune the images coming from each channel.
For example, you can adjust the brightness
and contrast of an image to more easily
distinguish details.
You can also manually tweak settings such
as the gain (normally set to 'auto') allowing
you to compensate for a 'backlit' image
where the background is too bight and the
subject too dark.
Channel Select Menu: Choose the appropriate channel
that you would like to adjust here.
Video Preview: The current image from the selected
channel. You can monitor the changes to the appearance of
the video in real-time here.
Video Adjustments: The nitty-gritty of the Video
Configuration menu. When adjusting these settings,
remember that they affect one another quite dramatically - for
example, setting the Contrast alone will not produce results
as desirable as using the Contrast and Brightness settings
in conjunction with one another. A little experimentation
is often the best way to find the right solution for you. If
anything ever gets out of hand whilst experimenting with
these settings, you can use the 'Defaults' button to return all
values to their starting position.
Contrast: Changes the relative brightness between the
darkest and lightest points in the channel's image. Adjusting
the contrast is a good idea if sections of the image are
"greying out" as adjusting the contrast will make subtle
details more apparent. However, setting the contrast too
high will exaggerate 'artifacts' in the video. (An 'artifact' is
digital distortion caused by the compression of the video file.
Artifacts usually show up as slightly mis-colored rectangles
in your images.
On the other hand, lowering the contrast will make the
relative brightness values of the light and dark spots in
the image less dynamic. Slightly lowering the contrast will
improve the aesthetics of the image, and cover up any
apparent video compression artifacts.
Brightness: Makes everything in the image brighter or
darker. Adjusting the brightness is a good idea if you have an
unusually bright or dark monitor, or are viewing the monitor
in a particularly bright/dark location.
If the camera connected to the channel that you're adjusting
Video Preview
Channel Select Menu
the brightness for is not getting enough light to create a
dynamic image and appears black, adjusting the brightness
will not make details in the image visible but merely make
the black appear grey (or even white). Adjust the contrast
and gain as well.
Hue: Changes the color mix in the image, often with very
dramatic results. If your camera system is not giving an
accurate representation of color in the image, which can
often happen if your cameras have infrared night vision,
you can try correcting it by adjusting the hue. Be aware that
small changes to the hue value will give dramatic results.
Also, there may not be a position on the slider which corrects
all color imperfections in your image, but with a little
experimentation you should be able to find a value which
improves the video coloring somewhat.
Saturation: The amount of color in the image. Using less
saturation will lead to a 'washed out' image, whilst reducing
it to zero will give you a black & white image. Increasing the
saturation will give more bright and vibrant colors - however,
setting the saturation too high will degrade video quality
and exaggerate any imperfection in your camera's color
representation.
Gain (Auto/Manual): The gain is the amount of amplification
applied to the camera's signal in order to generate the video
image. Normally, this will be set to 'Automatic' in order to
deal with changing light conditions - for example, the sun
rising and setting. However, if the auto setting does not
work for your setup, find the manual setting which works
for you. Remember that once set to manual, the PC-DVR
will not adjust exposure levels, even if the image blacks out
(under exposes) or whites out (over exposes).
Defaults: Returns all values to their initial positions. The
Contrast, Brightness, Hue and Saturation will revert to 5000
(half way along the slider, between 0 and 9, 999) whilst the
Gain will return to Auto, with the slider located at 0.
Video Adjustments
11
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